► Chapter Two

A New Beginning

 “Don’t!! Jongdae! He needs me!”

Joonmyun watches franticly and helplessly as Jongdae, in one of the baby sitter’s arms from Young Sang Orphanage, was taken away from him. Joonmyun watches in disbelieve as Jongdae was carried to a van from the orphanage house, the baby sleeping soundlessly, unaware of the current situations - unaware of being separated by his own brother.

Two officers held him down and had their arms around the boy’s tiny frame, preventing him from running after his little sibling. Joonmyun thrashes and twists in their hold, determined on retrieving Jongdae back to his arms.

The officers, however, did not budge and instead, tightened their hold on Joonmyun as the little boy continues to thrash under their grip. They sighed quietly at his fruitless attempt to break free. When the van pulled off and left the parking lot of the police station (also leaving a heartbroken Joonmyun), the officers finally relinquished their hold on Joonmyun and the boy slumped down to his knees and watches in defeat as the van drove away.

“It’s for the best…” One of them whispers warily. Joonmyun snaps and begins to push and hit their legs weakly with the remaining of energy he had (Joonmyun wished he was taller and stronger then so he could as well punch the crap out of them). He was too tired and beaten that all he wants to do is to burry himself deep in a dark black hole and to never rise again.

“You promised! You promised to give him back!” He screamed, still hopelessly shoving their legs with the little strength he had. Without Jongdae, Joonmyun is lost. Without Jongdae, Joonmyun is nothing.

“You promised…” He sobs after he gives up on hitting the officer’s legs, wiping the stream of tears with the back of his hands.

You promised…

Joonmyun’s eyes flew open and he finds himself facing the dark canvas of the bedroom walls, chest rising and deflating dramatically as beads of sweat trickled from his forehead and the back of his neck. The pale moonlight poured from the open window, inflicting shadows amongst the wooden cupboards and other furnitures in the small room.

He noticed belatedly of his wet cheeks and puffy eyes and wipes off the remaining tears in his face. The table clock beside his bed shows 3:41 am and Joonmyun sits up reluctantly as he stares blankly at the shining moon.

He’s dreaming of it again.

Dreaming of the painful separation with Jongdae which had constantly haunt him every night in his slumber until every 3 am or so, he’d wake up with tears in his face and a hollow heart.

“Hey, you okay?”

Joonmyun looks back to see Baekhyun, rubbing off the sleepiness from his eyes, still half in and half out of his dreams. Baekhyun sits up and shuffles closer to him.

“Hey,” Joonmyun answered tiredly. “You’re awake?”

“Awakened, actually,” Baekhyun corrected flatly, earning a light playful punch in the arm from the elder. They sat there in silence for a long time, just enjoying each other’s company until Baekhyun decided to break the stillness.

“So why were you awake?” He asked a little hesitantly. Joonmyun sighs and rubs his face in frustration, eyes glued back to the moon that shines ever so bright, fingers idly smoothing the folds in the blankets. “The usual. Bad dreams.”

“Your dreaming of your brother again, aren’t you?” Baekhyun asked unamused, a yawn escaping his lips as his eyes droop with sleepiness. Joonmyun chuckled bitterly and rakes his fingers through his dark disheveled locks.

“I’m never going to be good enough for him, aren’t I? Never going to be good enough for Jongdae. What kind of brother am I – not being able to stay by his side….”

Baekhyun sighed silently, retreating back and slowly settles himself into the comfy-ness of the blankets, tugging lightly on Joonmyun’s thin shirt, beckoning him to join him to sleep.

“Hey, today’s going to be our big day. Surely you wouldn’t want to walk around like a corpse from lack of sleep right? You’ll need your energy by eight in the morning today.” Baekhyun jokes inwhich Joonmyun replies with a slight smile, falling back into the soft mattress under him.

Today is going to be both his and Baekhyun’s big day. Joonmyun, who is turning 25 today and Baekhyun who will be 21 tomorrow, will finally be heading off to Seoul first thing in the morning and leaving the orphanage he and Baekhyun had grew up and spent their childhood in. It was a beautiful place, Joonmyun retraced. A place filled with joy and happiness and laughters of those who were left (or might as well abandoned) by their parents.

Joonmyun had even create a little family of his own in the orphanage, consisting of him, Baekhyun, 12 year old Xiumin and 10 year old Kyungsoo. The place was filled with good memories as well as sad ones, a place surely anyone would call home.

But Joonmyun’s all grown up now. He wouldn’t want to waste his life dwelling on his past and showering himself with self-pity. So together with Baekhyun, the two had studied hard every day, losing a good amount of 6 hours of sleep at the least on focusing on their studies every single night. Joonmyun tried not to notice the obviously darkening circles under his eyes and Baekhyun did too. But it was worth it. Their loss of sleep was worth their time; after all, they had received a letter from Seoul University a couple of weeks ago, stating that they are invited to study in a higher education.

They celebrated his and Baekhyun’s accomplishment in the orphanage with cakes and candies and sodas and Joonmyun had never felt happier in his whole life.

Joonmyun glanced briefly at the table clock as the time hits 4:01 am and idly thinks to himself ‘3 more hours to sleep’ before drifting into a dreamless slumber.

“Hyung! Don’t go!” Kyungsoo cries as he cling his arms tightly around Joonmyun’s middle. “Please, don’t leave us! Why do you have to go to Seoul anyway?!” He weeps as he buries his face in Joonmyun’s arms.

They were in the front porch of the Orphanage, fifteen kids at the age around 7 to 14 gathered up to bid their farewells and their last words towards the two male who’s heading out to pursue their dreams. Xiumin and Kyungsoo had held on especially hard on both Joonmyun and Baekhyun since the four of them were once a little family in the orphanage with the same fate and same loneliness.

It was hard for Joonmyun and Baekhyun to leave behind their little brothers (and the other kids in the orphanage as well), especially they were the ones who had always been there when nobody was, sharing all their laughters and tears under the same roof and Joonmyun could not have felt more encouraged without their presence.

He values their bond above all else, after all, they were the people Joonmyun would always run to every time he’s lost hope. They were his family.

There were lots of tears spilled that day; nevertheless, it was a brand new beginning for Joonmyun and Baekhyun.

“Hyung! Please stay with us! Don’t go to Seoul!” Xiumin circles his arms around Baekhyun. The elder chuckles, before gathering the crying Xiumin in his arms, kissing the top of his head softly.

“It’s hard for me to leave both of you two Xiumin-ah, Kyungsoo-ah. But Joonmyun and I are going to catch our dreams there in Seoul. Please support us, okay?”

Xiumin only stood silent and Baekhyun had to lightly tug off from the kid’s tight grip to wipe the snot dribbling down from Xiumin’s nose.

Joonmyun ruffles Kyungsoo’s hair and flashed an optimistic smile towards both boys. “We promise if we have time, we’d visit you guys during holidays.”

Kyungsoo looks unsure, biting his bottom lip in hesitant, and after a 4 seconds of silence or so, he quietly whispers out “Promise?”

As soon as those words were uttered, Joonmyun grinned and nods in a reassuring manner.

“Promise.” He smiles and entwines his little finger firmly with Kyungsoo’s smaller ones. Baekhyun did the same with Xiumin and after their final embrace, Both Joonmyun and Baekhyun walks out towards the front gate. The cheers of ‘We’ll miss you!’ and ‘Good luck in Seoul!’ from the kids of the orphanage was endearing and a little heart breaking Joonmyun had to bite his tongue to prevent his tears from spilling.

 They finally head out to the railway station, a big smile plastered in both their face.

A new beginning is just in front of their eyes.

A/N:  Well, like I've said in the previous chapter that I'd make it quick in posting the second chapter and I don't know if I did post it quick I hope I did though >.< anyways, I really hope you'll comment on what I've wrote so far because feedbacks really mean a lot to me :') Hope you like this update!